A Cowboy Under The Mistletoe

“Tyrone’s for my clients. Ty’s for my friends.”

“I doubt I’ll ever be your client.” She smiled. “So I’ll see you Friday night.”

“You will, and I’ll be armed with Chinese food.” He hesitated, almost afraid to say anything more in case he was reading too much into this invitation to help with her tree. “It’ll be nice to get to know each other better.”

Awareness flashed in her brown eyes. “I think so, too.”

2 (#ulink_fa96f63e-3bf5-54e0-9457-61436b62377b)

THE UNEXPECTED APPEARANCE of Ty Slater helped Whitney get through the next day without feeling too sorry for herself. She’d never spent Thanksgiving away from her family and she missed that rowdy, irreverent bunch. Nearly everyone on both her mom’s and her dad’s side lived in Cheyenne, including all four grandparents and the majority of her aunts, uncles and cousins.

Hosting Thanksgiving rotated among those who had the space and extra chairs, and the routine hadn’t varied for as long as she could remember. The midday meal was followed by touch football for those who enjoyed it and bowl games on TV for everyone else. She looked forward to that touch football game all year, but today someone else would have to take her position as wide receiver.

Sometimes her shift at Rangeland Roasters had kept her from participating in everything, but she’d made do with leftovers, the annual Ping-Pong tournament and endless games of Yahtzee. Even when she’d had to work on Thanksgiving, she’d never lost out entirely on the fun and the food. Until today.

To cheer herself up, she focused on her Friday night tree-trimming date with Ty. Looking at his picture on the calendar had been giving her a thrill for weeks, but now it provided an extra shot of adrenaline. They were going to hang out for the evening. She could barely believe her good luck.

She’d had a crush ever since he’d shown up at the coffee shop about a year ago. No surprise that he’d had a girlfriend, considering those knowing gray eyes and easy smile. He’d made her heart flutter again today, especially when he’d told her the girlfriend was history.

After reading his short bio on the calendar, she’d wondered if he might walk into this shop eventually. And so he had, looking more like a cowboy than the lawyer she’d known in Cheyenne. Discovering his hidden depths had been a turn-on, but seeing him shirtless had been a total game changer. Tyrone Slater was beautiful.

But he was uncomfortable with the calendar picture, which made him all the more adorable. She’d noticed him pull his hat lower when he’d seen it hanging on the back wall. That one gesture had been enough to make her melt.

The hat ramped up his sexy quotient, even if it covered up his glossy hair. She always noticed hair, and at first glance his had seemed to be French roast brown. But a closer look had revealed some dark red that reminded her of espresso in a glass mug held up to the light.

Back then he’d been out of reach. No longer, though. At least for this weekend, he was quite reachable.

She wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to manage the new location, but if she still lived in Cheyenne... No use dwelling on that inconvenience. He probably drove up to Sheridan often to visit his foster parents at Thunder Mountain Ranch. And maybe none of that would matter because their Friday night date could be a bust.

No, it wouldn’t. She’d seen the light in his eyes. He was looking forward to the evening as much as she was. They’d clicked from their first conversation on opposite sides of the coffee shop counter. But he’d had a girlfriend then.

For whatever reason, though, Theresa was out of the picture and Theresa’s loss was Whitney’s gain. Timing was everything, and meeting Ty yesterday felt like the hand of Fate. Those thoughts sustained her through most of Thanksgiving Day, but around five, when the touch football game was probably over, she gave in to a fresh wave of homesickness. Ducking into her small office, she pulled out her phone.

Her mom answered immediately. “Finally! I was so afraid you’d be too busy to call. We all miss you so much!”

Whitney swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. “I miss you, too, but it was either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I couldn’t justify leaving on both holidays.”

“I understand. We all do. But I wish you could have heard your young cousins rave about your legendary skill at touch football. You would have felt like a first-draft pick in the NFL.”

“Maybe by next year I’ll have an assistant I can trust to handle Thanksgiving here.”

“Maybe.” Her mother paused. “But honey, if Sheridan is where you’re supposed to end up, that’s not so bad. It’s not like the far side of the moon.”

“It feels a little bit that way right now.”

“I know, but this is your first Thanksgiving away from home. It’ll get easier.”

Whitney chuckled softly. “Are you trying to convince me or you?”

“Probably me. I knew you’d leave a big hole, but it’s a little bigger than I anticipated.”

It was a rare admission of vulnerability and Whitney sucked in a breath. “Aw, Mom, I’m sorry. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but maybe—”

“Don’t you dare consider giving it up, Whitney Lenore! It’s a terrific opportunity, and I’ll adjust. You’ll adjust. We’ll be fine, and stronger for the experience. Buck up, sweetheart. And so will I. Christmas is less than a month away.”

“Yeah, it is. That’s not long.”

“Not long at all. Do you have a tree for your apartment? That’s very important. Yes, you’ll be here for the actual day, but you need your own tree.”

“I do. In fact...” She hesitated. She hadn’t had the best of luck with guys and her mom worried. “Do you remember the lawyer I mentioned, the one who’s on the calendar you saw when you came up here in October?”

“I certainly do! That was a memorable picture.”

“He came into Rangeland Roasters yesterday and asked me out.”

“Oh, my. Are you going?”

“Sort of. I invited him to help me decorate my tree tomorrow night. He’s bringing Chinese.”

“Oh.” The silence on the other end was filled with her mother’s unspoken thoughts. “That calendar picture makes him look...”

“I know, but he’s not really like that. He’s actually very sweet.”

“He doesn’t look sweet.”

In her heart of hearts, Whitney hoped he wasn’t, either. She was ready for the sexual adventure promised by Ty’s rakish expression in the photo. But that wasn’t something she was about to admit to her mother. “Take my word for it. He is. He’s embarrassed by that picture.”

“If you say so. At least you know something of his background. I admire anyone who’s pulled himself up by his bootstraps.”

“And it’s not as if he’s a stranger. He patronized the Cheyenne location for months while I was still there. We talked a lot.”

“But he didn’t ask you out?”

“He was dating someone else.”

More silence. “I’m sure he’s a very nice young man.”

“He is.” Whitney could almost hear her mother’s questions. She wanted to know if Ty changed girlfriends as easily as he changed razor blades. She wanted to know if Ty understood that her daughter was an amazing woman not to be trifled with.

Whitney had no definitive answers for those questions. Her instincts told her that she could trust Ty, but she had no hard evidence to support her belief. And she’d been wrong before. Her mother had been there to pick up the pieces, so she could be forgiven for being suspicious, especially when her precious child was five hours away.

“He’d better treat you well,” her mother said at last, “or he’ll answer to me.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Even at twenty-six, she treasured the protective tone in her mother’s voice. “If he gets out of line, I’ll tell him that.”

“Be sure that you do. And now your cousins are dying to tell you about the disastrous football game. Do you have a few more minutes?”

“You bet.”